The Wood River Valley Women's Charitable Foundation is opening up its grant application period to Wood River Valley organizations. Applications can be made from now until Jan. 10, 2008, for grants of $5,000 to $25,000. Categories for grants include social services, education, environment, health, cultural arts and recreation.
Formed in 2005, the foundation has more than 100 members who donate $1,000 a year. Members either give their entire contribution to the pooled community grants or designate $500 to charities of their choice anywhere in the United States.
The group's mission is "to inspire and educate women to become leaders in philanthropy while bringing significant, positive change to the community by pooling our members' resources."
The emphasis will be on organizations that provide services in the Wood River Valley and projects for which funding would otherwise be unavailable. Projects for which funding can leverage other dollars will be given special consideration, said Marcia Liebich, grants chairwoman.
Financially administered by the Idaho Community Foundation, the group expects to have a total of $60,000 or more available for grants in 2008.
"We expect the grants to go to projects that will make a significant impact in our community," Liebich said.
The foundation this year awarded a total of $91,000 in grants to seven Wood River Valley nonprofit gruops: the Council Circle Foundation, Environmental Resource Center, La Alianza Hispanic center, the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Sagebrush Equine Training Center for the Handicapped, Sun Valley Adaptive Sports Program and Wood River Fire and Rescue.
There is a two-part application process. To start, applicants must fill out a two-page form available on the group's Web site, wrwomen.org.
A committee then invites selected organizations to submit a full proposal due in mid-March. After reviewing the proposals and making site visits, the committee then presents several recommendations to the membership. The membership votes on the grant recipients during the summer for funds to be awarded in August.
For additional information, contact Liebich at 578-8004 or grants@wrwomen.org. Women interested in joining the group should contact info@wrwomen.org.
